Dilating-forceps.



M.'B. POMERENE.

DILATING FORCEPS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 2, 1912.

Patented Feb. 1, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I fiwmtof Jig/MILE Panzer-"em THE COLUMBIA PMNOGRAPH C0.,WASHINGTON. Ii. 17. I

M. B. POMERENE.

DILATING FORGEPS.

' APPLICATION FILED FEB. 2. 1912.

1,170,324. Patented Feb.1, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

ANNIE- [Men/tor Jbgmiz B. Palm/rem; WNQJ'W &

flttorn r g THE COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH co., WASHINGTON, D. C.

MYRON B. POMERENE, or BERLIN, OHIO.

-DILATING-FORCEIES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 1, 1916.

Application filed February 2, 1912. Serial No. 674,984. f

To all whom it may concern." r

Be it known that I, MYRON B. PoiniRENn, acitizen of the United States,residing at Berlin,in the county of Holmes and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and use-, ful Improvements in Dilating-Forceps, ofwhich the following is a specification.

The invention relates to an obstetrical instrumentfor use in conjunctionwith the fingers of the operators hand, as for dilating the 0s uteriduring child-birth. An obvious difficulty in the direct application ofan instrument of this character is that the blades will easily slip fromtheir position and are aptto lacerate the os uteri, or injure the childor the surrounding parts, or catch contiguous tissue. On the other hand,it is practically necessary to accompany the use of a dilatinginstrument-with the direct touch of the operators fingers, for exploringthe parts and determining to what extent dilation is necessary ordesirable; and, more important, to prevent an injury to the mother orthe child by the use of the dilating instrument or'other form offorceps.

The difliculties and dangers thus briefly described are avoided andovercome by eiii-- ploying dilating forceps having flanges upon itsblades or arms to form seats or rests for the fingers of the operator,which forceps are preferablyiso. formed that its arms can.

be inserted along the palm of'the operators hand after the fingers havebeen inserted for exploration, whereby the ends of the fingers beinginserted in the os uteri can be forcibly separated to dilate the samewithout the instrument pressing against any portion of the uterus orcoming in contact withthe child.

The purposes and objects of the improvements, thus set forth in generalterms, are

attained by the construction, mechanism and arrangement of the preferredembodiment of the invention illustrated in a simple form,

and also with supplemental features, in the accompanying drawings inwhich Figure 1 is a perspective VIBW Of the sim- .ple form of theforceps, showing the arms slightly spread apart; Fig. 2, a perspective.

View of the forceps, showing the flanges turned fiatwise along the palmof the hand forinserting along the same; Fig. 3, a pera pair of fingershields; Fig. 6, a plan view, of the forceps adapted for theuse ofathird arm; Fig. 7 a plan view of the third arm; Fig. 8, a side view ofthe third arm; Fig. 9, a side view of the forceps with the third armapplied thereto; Fig. 10, an end view of the forceps with the third armas shown in Fig. 9; and Fig. 11, a section on line 11, Fig. 9. Similarnumerals refer Q to similar, parts throughout the drawings. p

i The simple form of the forceps 1, asshown in Figs. 1 to 41:,inclusive, is composed of the substantially straight arms 2 and thehandles- 3 operativelyjoined or fulcrumed, as bythe pivot 4, so that thefree ends of the arms may be spread apart by pressing the handles towardeach other, a suitable'spring 5 being preferably provided to normallyspread the handles apart and hold the arms together.

.On one side only of thefree end portions of the arms are providedlaterally extending flanges. 6, the outer or remote sides 7 of which arepreferably concavely curved to form suitable seats or rests for theinner or adjacent sides of the exploring fingers 8 of v 9 of theoperator are inserted in, thevagina.

of the mother for'exploring the conditionof the osuteri, and when thesame has natu-' rally dilated sufficiently to permit the en trance ofthe finger tips therein, and further natural dilation is slowand'tedious, the arms of the forceps'are inserted along the palm of thehand, with the flanges turned flatwisei therewith asshown in Fig. 2,,until the.

flanges reach the interval between the two exploring fingers, whereuponthe, forceps, are slightly turned until .the flanges enter between'thetwo exploringfingers,'as shown in Fig. 3 afterj which the arms arefurther inserted to bring the fianges alongside the end;

portions of the" fingers, whereupon the handles of the forceps arepressed together by the other hand 10 of the operator, whereby the armsand flanges of the instrument and the exploring fingers of the operatorare spread apart to dilate the os uteri as may be desired; during whichoperation the exploring fingers need not be withdrawn from the 0s uteriand can constantly remain in touch with the child, and at the same timethe instrument does not impinge or press against the uterus, the child,or the surrounding parts or tissues.

When it is desired to dilate the os uteri in a third direction, a thirdarm may be applied to the simple form of the forceps, as shown in Figs.6 to 10 inclusive. For the use of a third arm, a modified form of spring5 is preferably employed to normally spread the handles 3 and 3 apart;and suitable means for positively holding the handles together, when theblades are spread, are preferably provided, as the ratchet bar I l1pivoted to the free end of one handle and passing through the slot 12 inthe other handle, in one end of which slot is provided a detent 13 forengaging the ratchet teeth 14 and in the other end the pressure foot 15for normally holding the ratchet teeth in engagement with the detent.The pivot of the finger-rest arms 2 is preferably formed or engaged inthe joint bracket 16, on which bracket is secured or formed the shank 17for the third arm 18,

which shank extends rearwardly from the joint bracket on one side of andadjacent to the plane of the handles 3 and 3 The joint block 19 ispivoted or hinged on the inner side of the third arm 18 and is providedwith a longitudinal aperture 20 for receiving and sliding along theshank 17, on which shank the block may be secured in any desiredposition by the set screw 21,

one side of the aperture and shank being formed flat to prevent arotation of the block on the shank. The free end of the third arm islaterally widened to form the blade 22, which is preferably curved orflared as the section of a horn and has all the blade of the third armadjacent to the ends of the finger-rest arms.

In use, the finger-rest or digital forceps are inserted and operated asdescribed above for dilating the 0s uteri in two directions, and thespread arms are held in any position of separation by means of theratchet bar of the handle. After such initial dilation it is usuallydesirable to close the arms of the digital forceps toward each other torelease the fingers for further exploration before the third arm isinserted, which is readily done by pressing the ratchet arm to disengagethe teeth from the detent. Thereupon, the third arm is insertedalongside the digital forceps and the joint block slipped over and alongthe shank 17 until the blade of the third arm has entered the 0s uterito bring the flared end of the blade well within the same, as may beguided and determined by the inserted fingers, whereupon the joint blockis clamped to the shank by the set screw and the handle of the third armpressed toward the other arms to spread the blade from the digital armsand dilate the os uteri in the third direction, which spreading may beaccompanied by a further spreading of the digital arms. It will beunderstood that the feeling and guiding of the operators fingers whilethe blade of the third arm is being inserted and operated, reduces to aminimum the danger of damage from a slipping of the blade or the directcontact of the same; which danger is furthermore minimized by the flaredor horn-shaped end of the blade, the insertion of which is renderedpossible by the preliminary dilation made by the digital arms.

In cases of extreme rigidity of the os uteri, a pair of protectingthimbles 11, as shown in Fig. 5, may beused on the end portion of thefingers to receive and trans mit the pressure of the forceps, withoutunduly interfering with or impairing the freedom of the feeling thereof;and, while the invention'has been described and illustrated moreparticularly with reference to its use in dilating the .os uteri, itwill be understood that it is not intended to limit the scope of theinvention to such use, for it is obvious that the instrument can as wellbe used for dilating any passage, orifice or meatus large enough toadmit the entrance of the ends of the operators fingers.

To those skilled in the arts of making I and using instruments of theclass described,

many alterations in construction and widely differing embodiments andapplications of this invention will suggest themselves, withoutdeparting from; the spirit and scope thereof.

The disclosures and description herein are purely illustrative, and arenot intended to be in any sense limiting.

I claim:

1(Dilating forceps having substantially straight arms with smooth-edged.flanges forming finger rests on one side only of the ends thereof.

2. Dilating forceps having substantially straight arms with smooth-edgedconcaved flanges forming finger rests on one side only two arms andhaving a horn-shaped blade of thiselnds thefreof. l b on its free end.

8. iating orceps inc udin two su stantially straight arms jointe dtogether MYRON POMERENE' 5 and having smooth-edged finger rests onWitnesses:

one side only of the ends thereof, and a third D. O. KENDALL, armdetachably hinged on the joint of the CHARLES R. CARY.

copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

